163, no resentment, no hatred

163, no resentment, no hatred

At night, Lu Mingfei and Zhao Lang lay on the roof of Prince Ding's Mansion and looked at the stars. The sky was like a dome, covering the entire Kyoto city.

The natural environment of this era had not yet been polluted by any industry. The sky was exceptionally clear, and the air was exceptionally fresh, completely different from the world he had come from. He hadn't been used to life here for the first few years, but as he gradually got used to it, he began to love this place.

Although there are no airplanes or high-speed trains, no mobile phones or computers here, there are slow-moving carriages, birds singing and flowers blooming, parents and family who love him, and good friends like Zhao Lang, Zhang Lingxuan, and Ye Zhuoran.

In his previous life, after his parents passed away, his former close friends all distanced themselves from him. Many people said behind his back that he was an unlucky star and would bring misfortune to his parents. Some were afraid to get close to him and thought that if they were nice to him, he, an orphan, would cling to them and stay at their homes. For various reasons like these, people around him stayed away from him.

The friends he used to play with well when he was young no longer kept in touch with him, and some of them even became his bullies.

Thinking of some things and people in his previous life, Lu Mingfei felt extremely calm at this moment. He no longer cared about those who had bullied him, because those people were just passers-by in his life, not important people, and he did not need to remember them.

But he still remembered his parents from that life, their faces, the gentle smile on his mother's face, and that his father was sometimes very strict with him, but secretly loved him more than his mother.

It’s a pity that his bond with his parents in that life was too shallow. They were only family members for a few short years before they were separated forever.

Lu Mingfei looked up at the night sky above him, wondering if it was the same sky he had seen in his old world. He couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. "There are so many stars tonight, tomorrow will definitely be a sunny day." Looking at the starry sky, he thought about what his mother had said to him in his old world.

Zhao Lang turned his head and looked at Lu Mingfei with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

Feeling Zhao Lang looking at him, Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked at him. Their eyes met. He saw the suspicion in Zhao Lang's eyes. He curled his lips and smiled, and asked, "If you don't believe me, how about we make a bet?"

"No bet. I believe it." Zhao Lang didn't struggle at all and chose to believe Lu Mingfei's words.

Hearing this, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but laugh.

The two of them lay on the roof for a long time that night and chatted for a while. Then Lu Mingfei asked Zhao Lang to get off the roof, said goodbye to Zhao Lang, and went home with the guards who sent him back.

***

The next afternoon, their family set up several tables of food near the pancake shop and invited their good neighbors on the street to have a meal.

Almost all the neighbors who received the invitation came, and every guest who came to dinner was not empty-handed, and everyone came with gifts.

The gifts sent were of varying sizes, but no matter how big or small they were, when everyone finished their meal and left, they returned all the gifts to everyone, and also gave them a portion of their homemade braised pork sauce.

Lu Mingfei made the decision to return the gift money after discussing it with the adults in his family.

Others don't give them expensive gifts without ulterior motives. The more valuable the gift, the greater the potential gain. Furthermore, accepting these gifts can lead others to believe they can gain favor with them simply by paying them, creating the impression that their family is profit-driven. This might be fine if they remain an ordinary person, but if they pass the imperial examination and become an official, these generous gifts could become leverage to blackmail them and evidence of corruption and bribery in the eyes of the censors.

So there is really no need for them to leave such a big handle for others just for a small thing.

Originally, the original intention of the two families' adults to hold a banquet was just to invite their good neighbors to have a meal, and they didn't want to invite everyone.

The day after the banquet in the city, Lu Mingfei brought his younger brother Lu Mingrui and followed his father back to the village.

As for the brothers Lu Mingcong and Zhang Qi, they did not take them back with them. Even their mother chose to stay in the city and set up a stall and sell things, and did not go back with them.

Lu Mingfei knew that his mother couldn't forget the past and still held a grudge against the people in the old Lu family mansion. In fact, he didn't have a good impression of his grandparents in the old mansion, nor did he have a good impression of the people in the Lu family's main branch. They hadn't interacted much in recent years.

If it weren't for his fifth and sixth cousins, the third branch would not have had any contact with the second and fourth branches.

However, the reason he helped the two uncles was to force the second and fourth branches of the Lu family to separate from the first branch of the Lu family, thus cutting off the supply to the first branch of the Lu family. Now he has achieved this goal.

If the old lady hadn't taken the compensation money from his cousin's husband's family some time ago, I'm afraid the eldest wife wouldn't even have enough to eat.

Thinking of his eldest cousin's death, and the actions of those people in the Lu family's old house after his eldest cousin's death, Lu Mingfei was still filled with anger. He wondered where his good grandfather and grandmother, as well as those people in the Lu family's main house, would get the money after his eldest cousin's compensation was spent! Humph!

If it weren't for the old patriarch wanting him to return home to worship his ancestors and hold a wedding banquet, neither of them would have wanted to go back to the village to deal with these matters. However, his father wanted to bring his younger brother back to be included in the family tree, so they took this opportunity to bring Lu Mingrui back with them.

However, their relationship with the Lu family's old house has not been very good over the years, but they have maintained contact and exchanges with the old patriarch's family and some families in the clan with whom they had a good relationship in the past.

At this moment, the boy sitting on the donkey cart shouted that he wanted to get off.

"Brother, I want to get off." Lu Mingrui, who was sitting on the donkey cart, stretched out his hand to his brother. He wanted to get off.

"What are you going to do here?" Lu Mingfei looked up at the boy and asked.

Today they brought a lot of things back to the village, and the donkey cart was full of things, so he and his father didn't ride on the donkey cart. This donkey has been with their family for a long time, and it has always worked diligently and never got angry. It is a good donkey, so their family also cherishes this donkey and doesn't want to tire it out.

His father was leading the donkey in front, and he followed beside the donkey cart. Only Lu Mingrui, with his short legs, was sitting alone on the donkey cart.

But this kid didn't know how to enjoy his good fortune and even clamored to come down and walk with them?

"I want to go down." Lu Mingrui looked like if you don't carry me down, I will climb down by myself.

Lu Youtian, who was walking in front with the donkey, turned around and asked his youngest son, "Isn't it good to sit here?"

"No, we have to go down." Lu Mingrui shook his head.

"Okay, you carry him down." Lu Youtian was in front, a little far away from his youngest son, so he asked his eldest son to help carry the person down.

Hearing this, Lu Mingfei could only carry the silly boy down.

"Brother, hehehe." Lu Mingrui got off the donkey cart, grabbed his brother's hand with one of his little hands, and smiled happily.

"You silly boy, you're still smiling. Don't cry and ask to go back to the donkey cart when you get tired." Lu Mingfei scratched the boy's nose with his hand, not knowing what to say. As expected, children who have never experienced hardship are all stupid.

Lu Youtian in front looked back at his two sons behind him. His eldest son was smart and handsome, and his youngest son was quirky since he was a child and was also a smart child.

Looking at his two sons, one tall and one short, Lu Youtian was full of satisfaction.

He turned around and continued walking, leading the donkey, while talking to his eldest son behind him, "I remember when you were Mingrui's age, you followed me into the city to set up a stall. You were also very small back then, about the same size as Mingrui is now."

"I still remember that every time you knew I was going to the city to sell things, you would get up before dawn and before you even opened your eyes, you would grab my clothes and insist on following me to the city to sell things."

"Back then, we walked such a long way, and the little money we earned with great effort had to be handed back to the government. Sometimes you would ask me to buy some meat and bring it home. After I cooked it, neither you nor your mother could eat a single bite. Sigh..." At this point, Lu Youtian couldn't help but sigh. Now, thinking of his mother's partiality, he felt a little resentful, and also resented himself at that time.

"Tell me, why did Dad lose his mind at that time? He thought that as long as the family was well, what did it matter if you and your mother suffered a little injustice?"

"Dad, it's all in the past. You don't have to blame yourself. Just be nicer to Mom from now on." When Lu Mingfei was young, he was angry with his father. He felt that his father was too foolishly filial. He was controlled by his parents and brother and completely ignored him and his mother.

But later, he thought about how his father had been brainwashed by his parents since he was a child, and was taught to be filial to his parents, respect his eldest brother, take care of the family, and support his eldest nephew's education. How could he have the idea of ​​ignoring the interests of the public and only caring about his own family?

If it weren't for his grandparents and the people in the Lu family's old house who dealt his father a fatal blow, his father would probably still not have come to his senses.

So sometimes, you can’t listen to what others say. Only when you experience something yourself will you understand it.

Now that the father and son were talking about the past, Lu Mingfei no longer blamed his father. What had his father done wrong? The ones who were wrong were his grandparents, and the selfish vampires in the Lu family mansion.

Thinking about facing those people in the Lu family's old house every time he returned to the village, he actually didn't want to face those people.

But at this moment they were already on their way back to the village, and it was impossible for them to let down the old patriarch, the village chief, and so many people in the village, so they had to keep going.